The Moment of Lift
Melinda Gates
Pan Macmillan
Review: Nolusindiso Mgujulwa
Through her travels Melinda Gates has come to the realisation that if you want to uplift a society up, empower and invest in its women.
In this book, Gates, co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with her husband, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, shares her story about some of the inspiring women she’s met around the world.
Melinda shares how talking with both young and old women about family planning and contraceptives laid bare many more of the worst injustices women face worldwide, such as female genital cutting, child marriage, rape, domestic violence and unpaid labour.
Her stories of meeting some of these women and girls are heartbreaking but necessary reading, especially for us South Africans who may not be as aware of these common practices as we should be.
Some of these women experience extreme poverty and isolation, which makes it almost impossible for them to provide for and protect their children.
As a result of this, the cycle of abuse and poverty continues.
Melinda says it’s important to start shifting the dynamic at home first because that then extends to the wider community: “When a woman has her full voice and decision-making authority, she empowers everybody around her.”
She also provides simple and effective ways in which each one of us can make a difference.
If you want to understand the roots of poverty in our country and others, then read this book.
You will be moved to tears by the compassion in so many souls.
